The Accounting & Financial Women’s Alliance and its Accounting MOVE Project released their 2021 report, detailing how female leadership and gender equity at CPA firms continued to trend upward despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the remote work policies that followed.
MOVE (Money, Opportunity, Vital supports and Entrepreneurship), sponsored by CohnReznick, Moss Adams and other participating firms, focuses on the advancement of female leaders via yearly reviews. The 2021 MOVE Project results were based on survey results from participating firms polled during the first quarter of 2021.
The report found that firms that entered the pandemic with strong remote work policies most directly benefited women and their promotion to leadership roles. In 2021, women comprised 32% of partners and principals at polled firms, up from 29% in 2020, with women comprising over half (55%) of total firm professionals.
“The findings of this year’s report reveal that in spite of overwhelming uncertainty and change in the workforce that collaboration, diverse perspectives and the ability to embrace change has given women leverage in creating new opportunities in a challenging professional landscape,” said Cindy Stanley, executive director of the Accounting & Financial Women’s Alliance, in a statement. “Firms realized that by providing the opportunity for women to work in a remote and hybrid work environment that they were able to cultivate a diverse and expanding pool of talented professionals.”
Other notable figures from this year's report include:
- 45% of polled firms now track pay equity for new hires, compared to 41% in 2020;
- 93% of MOVE firms offer online training in leadership development skills, up from 86% in 2020;
- 59% of firms polled connect rising female professionals to client-facing roles, compared to 52% in 2020;
- 48% of MOVE firms collaborate with local groups that support women and minority-owned small businesses, up from 38% in 2020.
“The pandemic and the demand for racial justice accelerated inclusion and diversity efforts and tested the effectiveness of strategies that were previously put in place," said Tricia Benich, inclusion & social responsibility associate director for Moss Adams, in a statement. "Firms that have made a longstanding commitment were able to build on proven strategies to take faster action.”
The Best CPA Firms for Women list, sponsored by AFWA, highlights the best firms for women based on MOVE polling results. The 2021 firms, in alphabetical order, are:
- BPM (San Francisco)
- BeachFleischman (Phoenix)
- The Bonadio Group (Pittsford, New York)
- Clark Nuber (Bellevue, Washington)
- Frazier & Deeter (Atlanta)
- MCM CPAs & Advisors (Louisville, Kentucky)
- Lurie (Minneapolis)
- Moss Adams (Seattle)
- Novogradac & Co. (San Francisco)
- Rehmann (Troy, Michigan)
The report's 2021 Best CPA Firms for Equity Leadership highlighted firms with at least 32% female partners and principals. Top firms for 2021, in descending order of percentage of female partners and principals, are:
- Kaiser Consulting (Powell, Ohio) — 100%
- KWC (Alexandria, Va.) — 63%
- James Moore & Co. (Gainesville, Florida) — 58%
- Clark Nuber (Bellevue, Washington) — 56%
- Kerkering Barberio & Co. (Sarasota, Florida) — 56%
- RoseRyan (Campbell, California) — 50%
- Johnson & Yau Campbell, California) — 50%
- Bader Martin (Seattle) — 50%
- Abbott Stringham & Lynch (San Jose, California) — 46%
- Jones and Roth (Eugene, Oregon) — 46%
- The MFA Companies Tewksbury, Massachusetts — 46%
- Councilor, Buchanan & Mitchell (Washington, D.C.) — 44%
- BeachFleischman (Phoenix) — 44%
- BerryDunn (Portland, Maine) — 42%
- Bland & Associates (Omaha) — 40%
- HBE LLP (Omaha) — 40%
- The Bonadio Group (Pittsford, New York) — 39%
- OUM LLP (San Francisco) — 38%
- MCM CPAs & Advisors (Louisville, Ky.) — 37%
- Rehmann (Troy, Michigan) (37%)
- Frazier & Deeter (Atlanta) — 35%
- Novogradac & Co. (San Francisco) — 34%
- Lurie (Minneapolis) — 32%
For the full 2021 MOVE report, head to AFWA’s
